Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a sweeping social media bill on Thursday, setting up a potential veto showdown with the legislature, where it passed with strong bipartisan support.
would require large social media companies used by people in Colorado to take down flagged accounts if they鈥檙e determined to be selling guns or drugs, or engaged in the sex trafficking or sexual exploitation of minors.
Companies would also have to set up staffed hotlines for communicating with law enforcement and respond to investigation requests within 72 hours.
The bill would require social media companies to publish annual reports on how many minors use their platforms, how often and for how long, and how much they interact with content that violates the company鈥檚 policies. That provision, in particular, raised red flags for the industry, which warned such reports would be full of proprietary information and could potentially be used by predators to better target underage users.
The veto did not come as a surprise; the governor鈥檚 office testified against the bill, calling it 鈥渇atally flawed.鈥�
In a letter explaining his veto, Polis wrote, that while it has good intentions it fails to guarantee the safety of minors or adults, 鈥渆rodes privacy, freedom, and innovation, hurts vulnerable people, and potentially subjects all Coloradans to stifling and unwarranted scrutiny of our constitutionally protected speech.鈥�
He also said it mandates a private company to investigate and impose the government's chosen penalty of permanently deplatforming a user, 鈥渆ven if the underlying complaint is malicious and unwarranted. In our judicial proceedings, people receive due process when they are suspected of breaking the law. This bill, however, conscripts social media platforms to be judge and jury when users may have broken the law or even a company's own content rules.鈥�
He was also concerned about the data reporting requirements and that sensitive information, such as user age, identities and content viewed, could leak and especially harm marginalized communities.
Backers of the bill started mobilizing to encourage the legislature to counter Polis鈥� veto almost as soon as the legislation passed.
鈥淲e were able to do the impossible by getting people on both sides of the aisle to support our bill 鈥� and with a two-thirds majority in both chambers! We can do the impossible again, despite the Governor鈥檚 impending veto and get protections for our youth into law,鈥� the nonprofit group Blue Rising wrote in an email blast to its supporters.
Lawmakers have until May 7, when the legislature adjourns, to decide whether to override Polis鈥� veto. Doing so will require at least two-thirds of lawmakers in each chamber. Democratic Sen. Lindsey Daugherty, one of the bill鈥檚 main sponsors, says she believes the lawmakers who supported the underlying bill will also back the veto override.
鈥淚 have seen how much irreparable harm has been done to these families because of people literally using these platforms who are making billions of dollars on children to sell things that are illegal to children.鈥�
This is now the second bill this session lawmakers will decide whether to take a vote on Polis鈥� veto. The other would extend deadlines for responses for public records requests.
鈥淗e has a right to veto a bill. We have a right to override that veto. It's all part of the process,鈥� said Senate President Pro Tem Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City.
The last veto overrides in Colorado were in 2007 and 2011 under Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, and both dealt with budget spending requests.
